Clean Eating #51: Valentine's Day Raspberry Vinaigrette Marinade for Chicken or Fish

Valentine's Day Raspberry Vinaigrette

Ingredients

3/4th cup frozen mixed berries or raspberries

1/4th cup white wine vinegar

1/4th cup agave nectar or honey

1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp of spicy brown mustard

pepper to taste

Puree all ingredients in a blender.

Pour into a ziplock bag with thawed chicken breasts, white fish or tofu & refrigerate at least 30 minutes (best if you leave it overnight, but I was too hungry for it now!)

Bake at 375 wrapped in foil/in a pan covered with foil.

Individually wrapped 'packets' cooked A LOT faster, and since I put it off so long... well, I needed it done fast.

Make extra 'sauce' for a topping

I sauteed red and orange bell peppers and some onions and added some of the marinade to them and this made an AWESOME topping for the fish and rice.  It cooked down and was nice and thick. YUMMMMY 

**It would make a great dipping sauce for chicken strips, too!

We had ours with steamed brocooli and carrots and long grain brown rice seasoned with a little thyme & sage... topped with out pepper-ed up marinade sauce.

Delicious!  Next time I might add a little bit of orange juice as well... but that would just be for variety.  Paris wanted to use it as a salad dressing, but we were out of salad:(

I know I promised a Valentine's Day story, but instead its been a crazy busy day, and all I want to do right now is curl up with my hubby.  The love of my life that I met over 20 years ago!  We've been married for almost 18 years!!  I can't believe it:)  This guy changed my life and most definitely saved it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Clean Eating #48: Blueberry Almond Oats Protein Muffins, Bars or Cookies

Blueberry Almond Oats Protein Bars

These have a lot of ingredients, but they freeze well and they are honestly DELICIOUS.  Even Squatch, my picky boy, gobbled them up.  It would make a great lunchbox snack or a great bar to grab and go.  You can vary the ingredients to your taste.  Let me know how your experiments turn out!

I actually started with our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe for this one.  I ended up adding several things, and by the time it was all said and done had a VERY yummy cake like textured cookie, rather than a typical 'bar'.  However, they were so delicious, I think I'll still call this one a keeper!  They are very portable as muffins, and I did bake some in mini loaf tins, with a very shallow amount of batter and those turned out more "bar like" but wouldn't hold up the way a typical protein bar would.  My hubby took these to work with him this week and loved them.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup melted coconut oil
• 2 cups agave nectar
• 5 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups of whole wheat flour
• 2 cups blended oatmeal
• 1 cup plain old fashioned oats
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup wheat germ *optional
• 1 cup protein powder (I used French Vanilla)
• 1 cup chopped, blanched almonds
• 1/2 cup chopped blueberries (I used frozen berries, thawed and drained first)
• 1/2 cup chia seeds *optional

My mini loaf pan "protein bar"

Directions
Blend together wet ingredients, add dry ingredients and mix well.
Bake at 350 for... well depending on the form you use:
I actually preferred these in cookie form (rolled 1 inch balls and baked for about 8 minutes)
My hubby liked the 'bar' form because it was easy to grab and go (mini loaf pan for about 9-10 minutes)
The mini muffins... not so much.  I much preferred the loaf or cookie form. The muffins were too.. hard.

The kids ate them all, regardless, even the pan I burned.

What I'd do differently next time:
MORE BERRIES...  I would at LEAST double the berries.  Actually, since we're going on a little road trip today, I plan on making another batch to take with us... since all of my rotten children gobbled these all up in one day.  I might also try adding more protein powder.  I loved the nuttiness of the almonds and all the different crunchy textures, so I might add some more of this and that, too.  I'll let you know!

I'll also not bother with any muffins, and just make cookies and bars!

I will also try more varieties:
Cranberries and Almonds
Bananas and walnuts
strawberries and our berry protein powder
Raisins & leave more of the oats unblended

Any other ideas?